First Financial Bancorp. (FFBC) Competitors

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) and Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, community ranking, media sentiment, earnings, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Is FFBC or WBS a better dividend stock?

First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Webster Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 41.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Webster Financial pays out 36.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of FFBC or WBS?

77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.6% of Webster Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Webster Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, FFBC or WBS?

First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Webster Financial has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is FFBC or WBS more profitable?

Webster Financial has a net margin of 18.80% compared to First Financial Bancorp.'s net margin of 18.55%. Webster Financial's return on equity of 11.03% beat First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Financial Bancorp.	18.55%	10.32%	1.35%
Webster Financial	18.80%	11.03%	1.23%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, FFBC or WBS?

Webster Financial has higher revenue and earnings than First Financial Bancorp.. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Webster Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Financial Bancorp.	$1.12B	2.39	$255.86M	$2.32	12.05
Webster Financial	$3.94B	2.59	$867.84M	$4.41	13.51

Do analysts prefer FFBC or WBS?

First Financial Bancorp. currently has a consensus target price of $28.67, suggesting a potential upside of 2.56%. Webster Financial has a consensus target price of $61.58, suggesting a potential upside of 3.38%. Given Webster Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Webster Financial is more favorable than First Financial Bancorp..

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Financial Bancorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Webster Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.82

Does the MarketBeat Community favor FFBC or WBS?

Webster Financial received 260 more outperform votes than First Financial Bancorp. when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.68% of users gave Webster Financial an outperform vote while only 46.44% of users gave First Financial Bancorp. an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Financial Bancorp.	Outperform Votes 274 46.44%	Underperform Votes 316 53.56%
Webster Financial	Outperform Votes 534 58.68%	Underperform Votes 376 41.32%

Does the media prefer FFBC or WBS?

In the previous week, Webster Financial had 21 more articles in the media than First Financial Bancorp.. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for Webster Financial and 2 mentions for First Financial Bancorp.. Webster Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.65 beat First Financial Bancorp.'s score of 0.56 indicating that Webster Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Financial Bancorp.	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Webster Financial	6 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Webster Financial beats First Financial Bancorp. on 17 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.